Legacy Art Award 

The idea behind this piece originated as a result of my AP Art concentration of recreating 12

Make-A-Wish children’s wishes, and the continuous pattern of optimism I found in each of the children’s lives. I found many striking similarities to my brother Matt’s life who has had many serious medical issues over the course of his life at a young age of 21 as a result of a tubing accident in 2007.

Life is like a game, you never know the cards you are going to be dealt but you control the ability to react to these circumstances without fully comprehending the meaning. The “Greatest Good” is a portrait of my brother evaluating his checkerboard of life and deciding his next move while I represent a helping hand along the way.  

My senior IB art concentration focused on the idea of immortality and the more cultures I researched the more I found that immortality was partnered with water. This sparked an idea; throughout time humankind has understood the vital importance of water. I’ve always loved the water and everything in it and it’s no secret that our waters on Earth are polluted and overfished. So, I created Rare Catch as a reminder to keep our waters clean if we want life to continue.  The mermaid comes from the mythical city of Atlantis and the net represents the pollution. As the final piece to my concentration I felt the need to create a piece that best represented my style as an artist, which is taking a serious topic and making it visually beautiful. 

Spirituality of “Youthberry” is inspired by the calmness of an earlier work called  “Experience Tranquility”. The many layers we see in the negative space of my  Legacy piece also build on concepts explored in the Tranquility piece. Building the  layers metaphorically echo the layers of knowledge I gained through my study of  art. My Starbucks artwork also finds its way into my latest piece. In the  composition we see my homage to habits we develop – like stopping for that  perfect cup of coffee before the art class! The fluorescent orange drink, is a  reference to the idea of habits and the luminous color I used in my AP Porfolio  pieces. It represents the spiritual energy that is meant to fuel the passion for art  and creativity. The girl wearing the fox mask appeared in my watercolor piece from  junior year, the girl is the sneaky fox that turned into the human because of  curiosity to learn more about humans. Fox statue is being fed the Starbucks drink  to gain human abilities to create art. Trees and talismans to make it associated  with Shrines, which is considered to be sacred places, which means a lot to me  because art is my outlet for emotional well-being.  

This piece was created in commemoration of all practitioners of erroneous theory,of those: The rebel few to whom we owe our very capacity to conceive of the possibility of something other than what IS.

Those of you versed in Art history might identify traces of de Vlaminck alive in this painting, certainly the saturated colors and the trees in the foreground disrupting the natural flow of the composition attest to this. I say this because I would do anything to be associated with The Fauves. Even if it is I who is doing the association. Fauves quite fittingly is French for Wild Beasts. It refers to a group of artists who stood in the face of Picasso himself and ensured that there was something to go back to once He finished with his wrath of destruction. 

Perhaps the greatest influence underlining all of the work that I’ve completed over the past two years is the work of Gerhard Richter. From him originates the date 1964, the year of his graduation from the Dusseldorf Art Academy. A place which can claim responsibility for grooming the Dusseldorf school of Photography which includes the likes of Becher, Hofer, and Gursky (some of my other favorites).

If I’ve learned anything, If my work wishes to communicate anything at all. It’s that one man is not enough, not even if that man is Gerhard Richter. I’ve read all his writings spanning a period of 46 years and nearly everything he had to say concerned the work of someone else. brilliance is dependent on our communication with each other and with the works of those who’ve passed. I cannot express how  incredible it feels for one of my paintings to be a part of a place as special and significant to our history as a Learning Commons. once again thank you for this incredible honor.